


Persistance Pays Off

by CastleSL



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, Jeith - Freeform, Jeith Exchange 2020, M/M, Minor Injuries, Strangers to Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-22 12:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22716127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastleSL/pseuds/CastleSL
Summary: For Robin in the Valentine's Day Jeith Exchange 2020!James was a popular kid who liked making friends more than anything. So what's he supposed to do when Keith joins his fifth-grade class and doesn't want any friends at all?
Relationships: James Griffin/Keith (Voltron)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	Persistance Pays Off

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tricodeku](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tricodeku/gifts).



James was a popular kid. He had plenty of friends and always went out of his way to make more. He was polite and excitable, loyal to a fault with a heart of gold. It was no surprise when he was the teacher’s pet in school and the first picked at recess. James just the kind of kid that fit in with anyone and needed to be liked by everyone. 

So, when Keith Kogane joined his fifth-grade class and _didn’t_ want to be friends? It nearly shattered his whole little world. It wasn’t like James had been rude! He’d noticed the new kid at the back of the class and raced over to introduce himself as any sane person would- he was flat out ignored. When it came to recess, he asked Keith if he wanted to play. Keith just shook his head and ran to the teacher to ask if he could go back inside. No matter what James tried, Keith just didn’t like him. For someone who liked having friends and found it very easy making them, it was the worst few weeks of James’ life. 

James was a popular kid. He was also a very stubborn kid. Which was why, on a late winter afternoon, James made the decision that he was gonna make Keith his friend or die trying. 

He’d noticed that Keith never got picked up in front of the school like the other kids. He didn’t take the bus either, which only made James more curious. So, after school, James packed up his things, waved goodbye to his teacher and put his plan into motion. He’d talked to Keith earlier that day- though it was hardly what one would call a conversation: 

“Wanna hang out today?”

“No.”

“What are you doing today after school?”

“Nothing.”

“Great! I’ll walk with you after school.” He’d walked away before Keith could protest anymore. But he hadn’t sought out James to outright tell him no so it was technically a win. 

In the rush of students flooding out of the school building, James easily followed after Keith down the walkway, past the filling busses and parking lot. James didn’t know exactly where Keith lived, but their school was right next to a residential area so he just figured Keith’s house was somewhere in that neighborhood. They walked in silence for a few minutes, the sound of children behind them was enough to fill the empty space. The silence didn’t last long, however.

“Won’t your mom and dad be worried you’re not home?” Keith suddenly asked, his shoulders hunched and hands gripping his backpack straps. James shook his head. 

“She doesn’t get worried if I’m at a friend’s house.” They lived in a pretty small town and living near the Garrison meant that there were a lot of military families who all knew each other. Even if James didn’t end up going to Keith’s house, he’d be able to find his way back home before dark. 

“Then what are you following me for?” Keith’s voice sounded exasperated, but James was still a few paces behind so he couldn’t see. 

“I wanna be your friend.” He answered honestly because he had no reason to lie. He wanted to make friends and he just couldn’t figure out why Keith didn’t want the same thing. 

“...I don’t want any friends.” James cocked his head to the side, trying to wrap his head around that idea. 

“Not even one?”

“No!” Keith whipped himself around and James skidded to a stop to keep them from colliding. 

“Why not?” His mom always told him the best part of school was making friends along the way. They make life worth exploring, friends teach you more about yourself than anyone else. She was always telling him stuff like that, though more often than not he didn’t get it. Keith bristled and shot James a nasty scowl. 

“You’re not gonna leave me alone, are you?” James thought about it for a moment then shook his head. 

“Everyone has to have at least one friend.” Maybe Keith didn’t want one now, but James wasn’t going to give up so easily. 

“I don’t know if I can bring people over to my house,” Keith admitted, looking down at his shoes and scuffing them against the sidewalk. “But if you’re not gonna drop this, then I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Rather than protesting like Keith expected, James beamed. 

“You mean you’ll talk to me in class and stuff?” Keith nodded his head. “Okay! I’ll see you tomorrow!” Maybe he didn’t get to hang out with Keith like he planned, but maybe he would finally join in at recess or they could sit next to each other in class. Either way, James considered it a victory. “I’m gonna catch a bus home then. Bye, Keith!” 

As James ran back in the opposite direction, he didn’t see Keith give a little wave goodbye. 

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The next day came and went, Keith stuck it out through recess and didn’t brush James off every he tried to strike up a conversation. There were still plenty of awkward silences and moments where James’ enthusiasm was rivaled spectacularly by Keith’s awkwardness, but it was better than before. And Keith had to admit, after two weeks, it wasn’t so bad letting James be friends with him. Sure, James wasn’t giving him all his avid attention, he still had plenty of other friends who wanted to talk to him, but it was nice to have someone to turn to when he was having trouble in class. 

So maybe that was why he decided to make the first move on a Friday afternoon. James was always the one to start conversations and propose plans, so now it was Keith’s turn. 

Now, just because Keith had decided he was going to do it, didn’t mean he was going to be good at it. 

“Do you wanna hang out after school today?” Keith asked, voice far too loud for the quiet classroom. He didn’t even know if he had James’ attention before he stomped over but he certainly did now, along with half of the class. 

“Like, today?” James asked and Keith nodded his head. His foster parents were going to be late from work, so he would have been alone in the house anyway. Plus the weather channel said the skies were going to be clear all afternoon and into the evening. It seemed as good an idea as any. James didn’t even have to think about it long before he gave an enthusiastic nod of his head. 

“Yeah! Whatcha got planned?” 

X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0

Keith had actually been really proud of his plan when he thought of it. Their whole town was surrounded by deserts and in that desert were canyons and ravines. Keith didn’t have much to do so he enjoyed exploring the various cliffs and hiking trails that were only a few miles off in any direction. 

Maybe it was his excitement that got the better of him, but he’d never really hung out with a friend outside of school before and he’d wanted to make it special. 

Looking back on it, maybe rock climbing in a ravine, two miles away from school, wasn’t the brightest idea. 

“Are you sure this is safe?” James asked, watching Keith as he scaled a wall of a small ravine. The walls rose up about twenty feet on either side, one side leading out into the desert and the other overlooking a small cliffside. At least that’s what Keith had said. 

“Yeah, I do this all the time.” Climbing was the easy part, the real trick was not getting lost, though Keith had already climbed this ridge a dozen times before, so they had nothing to worry about. What they did have to worry about was the sun setting too soon. “Come on! It’s easy.” It was just like climbing a ladder, just not as boring. 

“Wait! Keith!” James hurried to catch up but Keith was already half-way up the rack face, climbing up with practiced ease. 

“We gotta get to the top or we’re gonna miss it.” Keith called back, though James had no idea what ‘it’ was. For all he knew, Keith was gonna show him a magical pet wolf or something. 

“I’m coming!” James pulled himself up onto a ledge and huffed to himself. He wasn’t a bad climber, but there had to be an easier way to get up to the top of the ravine wall. But Keith seemed to know exactly where he wanted to go so James sucked it up and started climbing again. 

Except when James went to push himself up off the ledge, the rock crumbled under his foot. He was plummeting before he even realized he’d lost his balance. 

“ _James!_ ”

The fall wasn’t terribly far down, but enough to make both boys panic. Keith scrambled down as fast as he possibly could without falling himself. Even from a distance, it was obvious that the other boy’s ankle was messed up beyond a simple twist. His foot was bent at a nasty angle and the outline of bone was visible even through James’ sock. Keith was no doctor but ankles were _not_ supposed to look like that. 

“C-can you walk?” James looked up at Keith and then down at his ankle, giving his foot a small twitch to test the pain. 

“I think so?” James struggled to pull himself up from the ground and as soon as he laid a little bit of weight on his ankle he whimpered and crumbled. The only thing that kept him up was Keith grabbing onto his shoulder in a panic. 

“I’ll carry you.” Keith decided with a firm nod of his head and a resolute frown on his face. James didn’t seem to recognize his resolve. 

“But you’re smaller than me.” Keith was at least half a head shorter than James and looked like he could barely carry his own backpack let alone another ten-year-old. 

“I can still carry you! It’s not like we can do anything else.” 

After some more squabbling, James eventually ended up on Keith’s back, trekking the short distance from the canyons to the nearest gas station. From there, they used the payphone to call for a ride home. James’ parents rushed him to the ER and Keith’s foster mom came to pick him up shortly after. 

X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0X0

The next day, James came to school with a doctor’s note and an ankle brace. All his friends asked him what happened, if he was okay, if they could help carry his stuff, even some staff were concerned. Keith avoided him like the plague. 

From the moment he walked in the building, Keith expected nasty looks and accusations. Once James let it slip that he had gotten hurt because of Keith, the whole school would be on his heels because James could muster an army if he really wanted to. It wasn’t like Keith pushed James off that ledge but it wouldn’t matter because, no matter how he tried to defend himself, James getting hurt was all his fault. 

It didn’t help that, because of his injury, James had to be left out of a lot of things, including recess. Which wasn’t too bad, since some kids would always hang around him and keep him company. 

“Hi.” James stared up at him, blinked several times, then offered a small wave. 

“Hey, what’s-” James was abruptly silenced when a bright red box was shoved in his face. Keith scowled at the ground because there was absolutely no way he was going to be able to make eye contact. 

“I’m really sorry I made you fall! I didn’t mean it and I feel really bad so here’s some candy!” He knew his face had to be twice as red as the glittery, heart-shaped box in his hand, it didn’t help that he was starting to shake. 

“You got me Valentine’s Day chocolate?” James asked dumbly as if the wrapping wasn’t obvious enough. Keith’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. 

“I had to get them before I got to school and it was the first thing I saw!” He snapped. Why wasn’t James taking it already? Was Keith going to have to throw out the chocolates? Sure, Valentine’s Day was four days earlier and the candy had been in the sale bin, but it was still good! He’d gotten up so early to get them and even took money from his piggy bank, how was he-

“Thank you.”

Keith’s head snapped him so fast his bangs were blown back. James was… smiling. All teeth and crinkled eyes. Keith realized he’d never actually see James smile- not directly at him, anyway. 

James tore through the thin plastic wrap around the box and pulled it open excitedly, revealing a dozen or so little chocolates. There really wasn’t anything special about them, not in Keith’s opinion, but as long as James was happy with them, that’s what mattered. 

“Do you want some?” The taller boy offered while gesturing to the seat beside him. 

“Are you sure?” Keith asked, unsure despite sitting down and taking an offered chocolate square. James nodded his head. 

“Yeah, I can’t eat all this by myself.” That was an absolute lie. He could put away at least six boxes without getting a stomach ache, but it felt better to share than make Keith watch him eat. 

“Oh, okay then.” They settled into a pleasant calm as they both munched away at the chocolates, killing half the box in only a few minutes. After a while, though, the guilt got too much for Keith to handle. 

“I’m... I-Is your ankle okay? I still feel really bad.” He stammered out, a half-eaten caramel candy melting between his fingertips. James leaned back and gave Keith a soft nudge to the shoulder. 

“It’s okay and stop feeling bad. It wasn’t your fault.” He brushed off easily and that only seemed to upset Keith more. 

“But it was!” The room suddenly seemed so quiet in the wake of Keith’s outburst. Funny, how he had one of the loudest voices while being the shortest kid in class. “I made you go out there and climb up the rock wall- if we’d just played video games at home or something, you wouldn’t have got hurt.” 

“Hey... You didn’t force me, I wanted to hang out with you.” James didn’t blame Keith at all for his little vertical stumble. He couldn’t control which rocks stayed sturdy and which ones caved, he had no way of knowing! “Plus, you seemed really excited to show me whatever was up there. It sucks we didn’t get to see it.” 

Keith slumped and crossed his arms over his chest- but not before shoving the melted candy in his mouth. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter now. You can’t even walk anymore.”

“Hey, I can walk just fine!” 

The sideways glance Keith shot him was enough to let James know he wasn’t buying it for one second. Which was fair, considering his cast practically glaring at him as a reminder that he could not, in fact, walk just fine. 

“At least I will in a few weeks... But I bet I could still beat you in a race!” They both knew that wasn’t ever going to happen but Keith didn’t point it out. Instead, he stuck out his hand for James to shake. 

“We’ll race when you get the cast off. Just don’t cry when I beat you, deal?” James scrunched his expression, thinking over the proposal before grinning and taking Keith’s hand. 

“Deal!” 

They stayed in for the rest of recess, talking and eating candy. They did eventually have that race after James was cleared by the doctor and his cast was long gone. Keith beat him by a landslide. 

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~18 Years Later~

“Keith, what the hell are we doing out here?” James whined as he followed Keith up a beaten dirt path. He’d been dragged around the whole town by his tight-lipped boyfriend who refused to tell him _why._ Dates were only for special occasions and James didn’t remember anything coming in the calendar. He’d even asked but Keith just shook his head and quickly offered to buy him ice cream. Of course, James said yes because he was suspicious, not an idiot. Free ice cream was free ice cream. 

Now, it was nearly dusk and they were out by the dunes, of all places. Keith had promised this would be the last stop, not that James minded the outdoors, he just wasn’t used to Keith being so… spontaneous. 

“You telling me you don’t remember this place?” Keith asked, voice a little shaky but James just chalked it up to the steep incline of the path. 

“Been a while since my last hike, babe.” James huffed with a small pout. He and Keith hadn’t been out there any time recently, not that he could think of anyway. How was he supposed to remember somewhere he’d never been? The confusion must have been all over his face because when Keith glanced back at him, he snickered. 

“Yeah, I guess we came up here from the other side, now that I think of it.” 

“What’s that supposed to… Woah.” James’ train of thought slowed down to a halt as he and Keith finally made it to the peak of the path, on top of one of the many rock cliffs overlooking the desert ravine. The low light of the sunset lit the whole area with a golden shimmer, making the sand sparkle.

It was absolutely beautiful. 

“Do you like it?” Keith asked, even though James’ awestruck expression should have been more than enough. “This was the first place we ever hung out.”

James blinked a few times as the information processed. It took a second. 

“You mean when you tried to _kill_ me and then made up for it with expired candy? When we were _ten?_ ” 

“They were on _sale_ , not expired.” Keith argued and James burst out in a fit of laughter. How long had it been since that day? Almost two decades; James barely thought about it. It was touching that Keith had remembered after all this time, so much that James decided not to point out that Keith didn’t deny the whole attempted murder thing. He turned away from his boyfriend to stare at the sunset, letting the last remaining rays of sun warm his face. 

“I never got to appreciate the view back then.” Though, to James’ credit, a sprained ankle was a pretty legitimate distraction. Plus, he probably wouldn’t have appreciated it back then. “Keith, this is-” James looked over but Keith was no longer beside him. “Keith?” He turned and felt his heart skip so many beats it was like it might stop completely. 

Keith was behind him, on one knee. In his hands was a black satin box with a gold band nestled inside. 

“James Griffin, will you marry me?”

~End~


End file.
